


True Blue Kaiju

by 131DI



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Body Horror, Brief mention of animal death, Gen, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 06:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16592687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/131DI/pseuds/131DI
Summary: Fred wants to be a real kaiju, and Honey Lemon has the means to make it happen.





	True Blue Kaiju

“I think I wanna give the monster formula thing a try.”

“Freddy, we’ve been over this. Turning you into an actual monster is still not going to happen.”

They’d talked about this many times, more than Honey could count. One time after another, she would find a way to brush off the strange request, or deny its plausibility. She was a chemist, not a modern Frankenstein, and she was not about to build a monster in her laboratory section no matter how much she was badgered, but lord if it wasn’t hard to resist the doe eyed pleading Fred was putting on for her right at that moment.

“No!” she insisted, but found herself laughing regardless.

“Aw, c’mon, why? Look at what you guys made when you had some killer bucks behind you!” said Fred, wildly gesturing with his arm and nearly cuffing a passing customer behind him. “Sorry-- but I mean, what makes it so hard? We’ve seen weirder stuff done already!”

That much was true, and Honey couldn’t lie; physical transformations weren’t unheard of, just dangerous. Very dangerous. Often the ‘life-threatening’ variety of dangerous. She wasn’t unfamiliar with the various achievements of other people in fields related to her chemistry studies, and their experiments, both failed and successful, were partly why she balked at Fred’s propositions.

“Why are you so dead set on making this a reality?” asked Honey, nodding in thanks to Cass as she handed over their warm mugs of coffee. “Aren’t you happy with your suit?”

“Well, yeah,” Fred quickly answered, looking almost offended that Honey even had to ask such a question. He blew on the piping hot drink before taking a sip, then flinched away at the searing temperature. “But I feel like we can do more. If we can make something like that, then what’s stopping us from giving me real monster powers?”

“Uh, how about a few million dollars and lack of any kind of proper testing?” said Honey, chuckling before she partook in her own beverage.

“D’you want me to cut you a check? Let’s do it!”

Honey stared at Fred, incredulous. “You’re still 100% serious about this,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Fred, this isn’t something to just… jump into.”

“We jumped right into the whole superhero thing, and that turned out pretty well,” Fred countered, leaning on the table with his elbow. “Didn’t it?”

“We almost died,” Honey flatly replied.

“But we didn’t,” Fred replied with a quick finger jab in her direction. “And here we are.”

With a sigh, Honey stared into her cup. He was more persistent than he’d ever been before, and soon enough the truth was going to come out. She was holding back not for scientific reasons, but for more personal, possibly selfish ones.

“Honey?” Fred pried when she didn’t speak up. “You look super bummed, what’s up?”

Memories of looking into one Dr. Banner’s research flashed across her mind, and she chewed her bottom lip. Photos of the grisly effects of radiation exposure and mutations sprang to mind, and when Honey glanced up from her coffee to meet Fred’s worried gaze, she couldn’t help a sharp intake of breath.

“If something goes wrong, you could die,” she said in a small voice.

It might not have been apparent from a first glance, but within their friend circle, she and Fred were rather close. High energy and optimism were wonderful bonding agents in friendship, they discovered, and greatly enjoyed each other’s company. Their interests were varied and different, but they seemed to line up in unexpected ways at times. For instance, quite a few items Fred’s massive collection at home went sadly untranslated from Japanese, and Honey found it quite fun to sit down with him and do just that. Fred had also supplied various suggestions for color schemes in her new fashion designs, unsurprisingly based on the kaiju he so clearly adored, and, more impressively, they had worked. (Who knew he had an eye for color? Honey had thought.) At times Fred’s seemingly boundless energy was a bit much, even for her, but at the end of the day, she was elated to have him in her life. Odd friendships were often the most interesting, and Honey cherished those moments.

She didn’t want it all to come to a screeching halt on top of a lab table.

Fred seemed to consider this, going quiet and taking great interest in his espresso. After setting it down, he set his chin in his palm and tapped his cheek with his finger, and Honey hoped he was weighing the logical pros and cons in his head, but she knew him better than that. He was most likely wondering if it were worth the risk to become a true blue fire-breathing beast, rather than considering any long-term ramifications. Not that he wasn’t smart, but he was extremely excitable, and that often clouded his judgment.

“You know what?” he finally said, moving his hand so that his chin rested on his knuckles. “I think I trust you.”

Oh, Honey thought. Right in the heart. He was hard to sway, and his trust was precious. Worrying aside, his confidence in her ability made her feel particularly warm and fuzzy. The hopeful, searching expression written all over his face wasn’t helping, either.

“You don’t pull any punches with those looks, do you?”

“What looks?” he asked innocently.

“Nevermind,” Honey laughed. “I’ll probably have to get someone to draft a legal waiver for you to sign, you know.”

“So give me a pen, I’m ready!”

“I bet you are.”

\- 

When Fred said he would cut her a check, he hadn’t been joking. In no time, Honey had, quite frankly, a ludicrous amount of resources at her disposal, from the nearly unlimited funds to brand new equipment, to a batch of young, healthy lab rats on which to run her tests. Preliminary research and testing had started a few days ago, and now it was time to get the ball rolling. As she pushed the cart full of cages into the new lab space, she caught the attention of Gogo, who had been fiddling with the mechanism on her bike before the clattering of metal on metal roused her from her engineering trance.

“What’s with all the rats?” she asked, sauntering over to the noise.

Honey barely heard Gogo’s question over the music blaring in her earbuds, but managed to catch just enough of it to halt in her movements and turn down the volume. “What?”

“The rats,” Gogo repeated, gesturing to the wire cages and glass terrariums.

“Oh! These are for my tests. Figured rats were the best place to start.”

Gogo merely fixed her with a stare that was difficult to read.

“I guess Fred didn’t say anything yet?”

“Oh, no, he did,” said Gogo. “I heard all about it. He wouldn’t put a lid on it until I made him.”

Sounds about right, Honey thought.

“Are you out of your mind?” she said next, and Honey hadn’t quite expected that.

“No, I don’t think so,” she said truthfully. “Why do you think I am?”

“You’re gonna turn… that-” Gogo turned and threw up her arms, full-body gesturing at Fred, who was on the other side of the lab space talking to Wasabi. The latter looked exhausted. “-into an actual scaly, fire-breathing… thing?”

“It makes him happy.”

Silence hung between them for several seconds until Gogo shrugged, apparently letting it go. “Mind if I watch?”

“Sure! Help me move these inside?”

Soon the lab was set up properly, right down to bright pink labels on the rats’ cages denoting which batch of test serum they would be receiving. Gogo remained quiet for most of it, but seemed to enjoy the process. Her concern for the project was understandable, but Honey was going to assure her - and anyone else - that this was going to turn out all right, and Fred was not going to be put in any danger that could not be controlled. Honey wasn’t about to be responsible for the loss of another friend.

“Looks nice,” said Gogo, loudly snapping her gum. “When does the human testing start?”

“Stop,” Honey said with an amused chuff, shaking her head. “Not for a long while, and not until I perfect this first batch. I’ll be keeping video logs for the whole process, as well as detailed notes.”

As she spoke, Gogo took interest in one of the white rats, showing a rare, small smile as she gently tapped the glass with the tip of her fingernail.

“Cute, aren’t they?” said Honey, scratching down their cage numbers on a clipboard.

“Heh. Yeah,” said Gogo. She remained for a few minutes more, then excused herself, returning to her section of the room.

Honey plucked her phone from the table and took a handful of pictures of each rat, then skipped to the computer to tap the [REC] button on her video program. She cleared her throat, straightened her posture, and beamed a bright smile for the camera.

“Day one--”

-

“Day eight! Initial tests are going well, the rats are responding to the formula with mixed results. One of the most common effects seems to be the growth of a third eye, which.. is kind of gross, but also exactly what we’re going for. So, it’s a success!”

Honey walked around the lab island table, tapping the cage labels as she spoke. Fred sat to the left on the counter, watching intently. His expression was much like that of an excited, enraptured child, leaning forward with his hands resting on his knees.

“Patches of flaky, bluish skin have begun to appear on the latest subjects, but so far no evidence of scales. This first batch is just about done, and for the second I’ll need to take a blood sample from my eventual human subject in order to further tailor it.”

At the mention of a blood sample, the excitement on Fred’s face vanished, though Honey wouldn’t see it until she later reviewed her video.

“Whoa, what? What about my blood, now?” he asked, sitting up straight.

“I’ll need some from you so I can make the formula a bit more… customized, if you will,” Honey explained. “I can only go so far without it. Gotta know how I’m gonna make sure your body doesn’t go into anaphylactic shock when I introduce it to your bloodstream eventually.”

“Uhh…”

“Let me check the rest of the cages, then we’ll get-- ...Fred? Where are you going?”

While she was looking down, he soundlessly slipped from the countertop to the floor and made a break for the lab door, but had been caught at the last second.

“Just… uh. Snacks?” he lamely replied, looking quite alarmed.

“Haha, no you don’t,” said Honey, seizing him by the upper arm. “I need that stomach of yours to be empty before I take anything from you.”

“Aw, what?” Fred protested. “I didn’t eat anything all day because of how stoked I was about this! I’m hungry!”

“Good, then you’re ready.”

Fred made a noise that could only be likened to that of a betrayed dog, and he tried valiantly to persuade Honey to let him go by pulling the most innocent puppy eyes he could possibly manage, but she did not budge.

“You’re killin’ me here, Honey,” he grumbled, rubbing the side of his face.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’ll be over in no time.”

He mumbled something else into the palm of his hand, something she could not decipher as she skipped to fetch Baymax. “What was that?” she called over her shoulder.

“I said ‘Needles, me no likey!’”

This was news to her. “What?”

“Fred is exhibiting signs of of trypano- and aichmophobia; fear of needles and sharp objects,” Baymax said as he followed Honey into the room, a display appearing on his chest. It cycled through images of medical equipment, mostly focused on syringes and a few operating tools. Fred recoiled, turning his head to the side. “It is a very common fear, present in up to 20% of the human population.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” asked Honey, feeling a pang of guilt.

“I didn’t think about it,” said Fred. “I thought I was just gonna… I dunno, end up drinking something. Didn’t realize I was gonna get poked and pricked and injected.” He stressed the last word to emphasize his discomfort, folding his arms in front of his chest and giving an almighty pout.

Honey hummed thoughtfully and leaned against the counter. “Well, there’s no other way to get what we need. Think you can handle it?”

“As long as I don’t have to look,” Fred relented, nodding.

“All right, Baymax. Do your thing!”

A tourniquet was tied around Fred’s upper arm, which was visibly trembling. Honey set her hand on his shoulder and gave a light squeeze.

“Hey, you do this a couple times and you get cool monster powers. Good trade, right?” she said. She looked briefly at the sample Baymax was collecting and grimaced. Blood wasn’t her favorite thing to look at, either. When Fred began turning his head to look as well, she took hold of his chin and averted his eyes. “Ah, ah, nope. No looking.”

“Right.”

“Sufficient volume has been collected,” said Baymax. “...warning, blood pressure dropping!”

No sooner than had Baymax spoken did Fred’s legs buckle, and if not for Honey’s grip, he would have gone tumbling to the floor. His weight sunk heavily against her, and she carefully grabbed him around the middle to keep him steady.

“Laying him flat will help restore blood flow to the brain. He is suffering from vasovagal syncope, common in those with trypanophobia,” Baymax said, producing another screen of information. A diagram of a cross-section of the human vascular system popped up briefly.

Honey did as instructed, and soon enough Fred’s eyes fluttered open as he regained consciousness. Normally he was fairly pale, but his face was even whiter than usual, and Honey noted his dilated eyes.

“You okay?” she asked.

“One step closer to kaiju,” said Fred, voice shaky.

“Atta boy.” She patted his head affectionately. “Thanks, Baymax. If you could put those on the counter, that’d be great.”

Baymax complied silently, carefully placing the vials on a tube rack. “His blood type is O.”

\- 

“Day… day 16. Rat subject 3-A1 has… expired. Mutation occurred rapidly and with satisfactory results, but the cell expansion triggered unexpected damage, leading to internal hemorrhaging and rupture of the carotid artery.”

Sighing, Honey hit the STOP button on the video feed. Setbacks were to be expected, but this? She sat down in her chair and rested her forehead on her fingertips.

“Sorry, 3-A1. Science and progress demand sacrifice, I suppose.”

The other rats, both turned and not, carried on with their self-contained lives, but 3-A1’s cage remained quiet. No shuffling, no squeaking wheel, no tapping of the water bottle’s metal bead. Tears pricked the back of Honey’s eyes as she stared at the cage. Animals were difficult to work with, always pulling at her tender heart, but if she were honest, it was not the real root of her emotional state. She was expected to use this formula on a human - on a friend - and she just killed her latest subject.

Nervously she moved to the sink to wash her jittery hands, then sifted through her purse for some fudge she bought the other morning. Most of the pieces were gone, already having been eaten during breaks on previous test days, but some remained, and she quickly unwrapped one and popped it into her mouth. It warmed her tongue with its smooth chocolate taste as she sucked on it, and she took a deep breath through her nose.

“Relax, Honey. Relax,” she said in a hushed voice. “It’s okay. It’s just a rat. Not Fred. He’s fine. It’s just a rat.”

“What’re you mumbling about in here?” came Gogo’s voice from behind her. She appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

“My test rat died,” said Honey.

“Oh.”

“Brain hemorrhage.”

Gogo’s eyebrows lifted.

“I must’ve given it too much, too soon. It was going so well, too….”

Wordlessly Gogo pulled up a chair and sat next to her, her eyes watching the distressed chemist. “No way of fixing it?”

“Can’t really fix ‘dead,’ Gogo.”

“I meant the formula,” Gogo hastily added.

“Yes, but… I’m just worried.”

Gogo watched her carefully.

“I know this is exactly why I’m using test animals, but… oh, Gogo, what if that’d been Fred? He’d be dead on the table and it would’ve been my fault!” Honey wailed. It came out much louder than she wanted it to, but she felt like she’d popped the cork on the pressure in her chest, and it was hard to keep holding it in.

“Well, he’s fine, isn’t he?” asked Gogo.

“Yes, he’s in the other room.”

“And it’s just the rat?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’re fine. He’s not dead, just the rat. Woman up, Lemon. You can do it. Learn from this and improve.”

“...right,” said Honey, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “Improve. I just wish I knew more about this. It’s not like he asked me to just make a concoction, he wants me to use it on him! I’m not exactly the head of cell biology…”

“Yeah, so? You still know more about this stuff than the rest of us put together.”

“Hm. … if the cells reacted with rapid growth, maybe I should dilute the dosage. Reduce? Remove the batch’s catalyst-- I need another blood sample. I think I’ve got an idea!”

“Good luck with that,” Gogo scoffed, though it sounded dangerously close to a laugh.

“Oh, go get him already. If you’re going to hang around and snark, at least be useful. Please?”

Gogo popped her gum. “Sure.”

“Thank you, Gogo! Kisses!”

Only a few moments went by before a loud protest of “AGAIN?” met Honey’s ears, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Jesus, Fred,” the annoyed timbre of Gogo’s voice followed. “Did you grease yourself up or something? Stay still!”

“I’m not getting sucked dry by a needle two weeks in a row!” Fred practically squawked. She heard the clang of a tool being taken off a counter top, and she could imagine him brandishing it like a sword to fend off the advancing beast that was Gogo Tomago. “Besides, I took some of Honey’s fudge, so my blood sugar’s too high anyway! Ha!”

\- 

Time seemed to sail by with little event as Honey diligently worked on her formula, focused and in considerably higher spirits. Anyone who knew her, knew that when she hit a low point, she was quick to recover and move on, ready to share her warmth and cheer with anyone within a ten foot radius. In the last few days of testing, she was downright bubbly with excitement, a mood shared in full by Fred. He hovered around her like a shadow, watching every little scribble of her pen, every footstep through the laboratory.

“So how long d’you think it’ll be before we can use it on me?” he asked during Honey’s scheduled break. She had to stop and make sure she stayed fed and hydrated amid her working, after all, and he was happy to join her. Salad, sandwiches, chips, and drinks sat spread over the cleared table, along with a stack of papers analyzing the last test results.

“Tomorrow!” said Honey, careful to swallow her mouthful of salad first. “All the remaining test subjects are healthy and showing stable signs, and the latest ones even started changing back to their normal bodies on their own! Oh, Freddy, it’s so exhilarating! This is actually happening!”

“And you said it was a bad idea,” Fred teased, waggling the sandwich in his hand at her.

“It probably still is,” laughed Honey, “but I made it a lot safer!”

“Good enough for me!”

“Hey,” said Gogo’s voice suddenly, causing both of them to turn in her direction. She rapped her knuckles on the door frame, and appeared uncharacteristically on edge; nervous, almost. Honey made a small ‘hm’ noise to herself, but said nothing.

“When you guys are done, I need to talk to you,” she went on, pointing at Fred.

“What’d I do?” he asked, mouth full.

“Nothing, I just need to talk.”

Fred glanced at Honey, who only shrugged. “Okay,” he agreed. “Don’t you wanna sit with us? We’ve got food!”

“No, thanks,” Gogo quickly dismissed his offer. “Just find me when you’re finished.”

And with that, she turned on her heel and left.

“...huh. Did that seem a little weird to you?” said Honey, quirking an eyebrow. “Come to think of it, she’s been a little odd lately in general. Like she keeps wanting to say something, but won’t.”

“Yeah. Wonder what’s up?” Fred thought aloud. He wolfed down the rest of his sandwich and got up from the table, disappearing through the doorway to follow Gogo.

“Come back in one piece!”

Somewhere close to an hour had passed before she saw either of them again, but it took her a few minutes to even realize Fred had re-entered the room, she was so focused on her tablet. When she did, she noted that he looked rather stunned despite his happiness, and, pulling her earbuds from her ears, she inquired as to why.

“Gogo asked me out for coffee on Saturday,” Fred answered, taking a seat on the counter.

“What?”

“Apparently she’s been trying to find a good time to say it,” he explained, “and since we’re doing potentially life-threatening experiments, she figured now was that time. Something about how I might die.”

“That’s rather morbid of her. She doesn’t trust me?”

“Aw, I’m sure she does, but- Honey-- a date with Gogo!” Fred’s face lit up like he’d been told he was going to meet his favorite comic book author. “She’s always been so intimidating and hard on me, but who knew?”

“You do have a certain… charm. Maybe she finally fell for it?” Honey giggled. “Don’t go too crazy. I still need you in good health for your follow-up tests.”

“Yes ma’am!”

\- 

“Okay, Fred. Big day today. Last test before you get your real kaiju powers! Ohhh, this is gonna be so cool. Real claws, three eyes, sticky spines, a real tail--”

Fred chattered to himself as Honey carefully drew a four by four grid on his back with a washable marker. Along the side of the grid were numbers and letters indicating which square contained what variable in the formula, laid out like an allergy test. As Honey wrote the last few letters on skin, Fred twisted away with an unflattering squeak of laughter.

“Sorry, that spot’s a little ticklish,” he said.

“Noted!”

Baymax was off to the side waiting for his cue, holding the four needles Honey had prepared. Each contained a small droplet of her formula, just enough to trigger a localized reaction. He approached when signaled, and Honey felt Fred go stiff under her fingers. He gripped the side of his pants so hard that his knuckles were going white, and, much like last time, began to slightly tremble.

“Relax, Freddy. It’ll be quick, I promise!” she said, trying to comfort him. “Just think about something else. Think about… Saturday! You’re gonna have a great time.”

“Right, Saturday. Okay.” Fred took a deep, shaky breath. “Okay, go for it.”

Four pinpricks later, Fred released the edge of his pants pocket from his grip and let out a relieved sigh. Honey kept her eyes on her phone’s clock as they waited for any immediate negative reaction, but when none came, she gave a thumbs up to Baymax. “Lookin’ good!”

“Are they supposed to itch?” asked Fred, who moved to reach over his shoulder, but Honey snagged his wrist.

“Yes, your skin is undergoing micro transformations, so it’s going to feel really weird. Please, try not to scratch it. I don’t want it to get infected! Think of it like… monster chicken pox. Scratch it and spread it, and I’m going to give you such a pinch.”

“Oh, gross,” Fred mumbled, retracting his hand. “Got it.”

“Now we wait a few days, pick the most positive variation of the formula-”

“-and then it’s Fredzilla time!”

\- 

“Did you bring a change of clothes?”

“Oh- shoot, no, I forgot. This is too cool!”

“Okay, okay, don’t worry, you can have my lab coat when you change back. I’ll see if Wasabi has anything he can spare.”

Fred stood on one end of the cleared out lab, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Loose fitting clothes draped over his skinny body, the oldest and loosest ones he could find as per Honey’s request. Honey prepped the last syringe she hoped she would have to use on her friend, flicking her finger against it to dislodge any air bubbles. Again, Baymax was at the ready in case of medical emergency, equipped with a last resort antidote Honey had whipped up. His red recording light blipped on as he gave a thumbs up, and Honey approached her subject.

“Last time I’ll have to poke you,” she said, steadying his arm. “Ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be!” Fred replied, nodding. “Let’s do it.”

They both took a long look at the semi-transparent liquid inside the syringe, then drew a breath in unison. Honey leaned forward to plant a friendly, good-luck kiss on Fred’s forehead, then injected the serum. He winced, gritting his teeth at the sensation, but ultimately kept his cool, thankfully showing no signs of collapsing. A few steadying breaths later and he was staring blankly ahead, focused on the space just to the left of Honey.

“Hey,” he said after a short time had passed. “I, uh-”

“Yes?” Honey perked up, eyes wide.

“My heart’s going nuts,” he continued. “Like it’s trying to break outta my chest. Should that be happening? Everything’s lookin’ kinda blurry, too.”

Concerned, Honey clicked on a flashlight and held it in front of his face. His pupils were wide and unresponsive, and he winced away when the bright light struck them. “Hey! -- ugh, I’m not… feeling so good.”

Ice surged through Honey’s veins.

“Feels like somebody’s grabbing my guts and squeezing them-- ngh, like they’re gonna pop--”

Fred clutched his stomach and doubled over with a pained yelp, falling to his knees. Honey followed, setting her hands on his back, but as soon as she touched him, she pulled away as if she’d been burned. He was almost hot, like he suddenly came down with a horrendous fever.

“Stay down,” she told him, voice wavering. “I’m gonna get the anti- oh!”

Cropping up all along Fred’s neck were deep blue patches of tough, finely scaled skin, the color spreading like spilled dye, snaking its way to his face and under the fabric of his shirt.

“This-- ugh-- feels horrible,” Fred croaked, putting his hand to his mouth. A violent shudder seized his body for a few moments, followed by a wet cough. When he pulled his hand away, both he and Honey gasped.

It was covered with a sticky, blue-black fluid.

“...Honey?” Fred said quietly, terrified. “What is this?”

“I… I don’t know,” replied Honey, just as scared. “Here, I’ll-- I’ll take a sample.”

Moving quickly, she gathered some of the viscous liquid from his hand and brought it over to her microscope to examine. What she discovered made her step back, blink, shake her head, and set her eye to the eyepiece once more, wondering if she saw it correctly.

“Freddy, it’s blood! Yours! It’s… changed color for some reason? It looks like it’s based more on hemocyanin now than hemoglobin-”

What sounded like a howl made her jump and nearly drop the slide. Fred was on his side on the floor, all traces of his normal pale skin now gone, replaced by the vibrant cerulean scales. Sharp spines were poking through the back of his shirt, more visible once he tried to right himself, and, perhaps most strikingly, the same third eye that the rats had developed now appeared on his forehead.

“Oh, my god,” Honey whispered.

It was exponential. Flesh twisted, becoming bulky and hard; hair disappeared, replaced by a sharp head crest of blue and bright orange; a thick tail grew from the base of his spine, tipped with hard spikes like a dinosaur. The only thing this emerging beast had in common with its previous form were two arms, legs, and what could barely be called a separate head. Much like the suit human Fred wore, this monster had little neck to speak of, compact and muscular. Dark blue lips ringed a mouth full of sharp ivory teeth, as well as a flickering forked tongue, and as the beast breathed out, a spark of flame burst forth. He wobbled, disoriented, until his massive clawed hand found purchase on a countertop, and shook his head. All three eyes scanned the room, their vertical pupils still dilated and searching… still frightened.

“Fred?”

The monster snapped its attention to Honey as she spoke his name, then relaxed.

“Can you hear me?”

He nodded enthusiastically, then put a hand to his crest, a low noise of discomfort rumbling from his huge chest.

“Careful, don’t hurt yourself,” said Honey, taking a tentative step forward. She could hear his ragged breathing all the way across the room, and noted that some of the blue-black goop was dripping from his mouth. Whatever had gone on inside his body, it must have been an absolute mess. “Baymax! We should give him a once-over to see how his body’s handling all this.”

Fred’s eyes, now bright yellow and flecked with dots of golden-orange, watched Honey curiously, squinting slightly. A horrible strangled noise emerged from his throat, sounding more like a dying animal than any manner of speech. Embarrassed, Fred put his clawed hands over his mouth and shut it tight.

“...were you trying to say something?” asked Honey. When Fred confirmed yes, she couldn’t help but laugh a little. “I think you’re gonna have to re-learn how to do that when you’re like this. But for now, body language is okay.”

He pouted, but made no objection.

“His blood pressure is low, and heart rate has elevated significantly. Possible internal bleeding,” said Baymax after scanning his patient.

“I think that’s why you were coughing up that blue stuff,” said Honey, holding up the slide with her sample on it. “Everything inside you just kinda went... splat.”

Alarmed, Fred tilted his head down to look at his scaled belly, which was now a shock of bright orange like that on his crest. Getting increasingly worried, he glanced back up at Honey.

“I think you’re going to be fine, as miraculous as that sounds.” She stepped closer and held out her hand, palm forward, then touched each of her fingertips to her thumb. “Can you do that?”

Clumsily he attempted the simple motion, unused to the bulky claws he now sported. They scraped unpleasantly over one another as they connected, but he managed the task all the same.

“Good!” Clicking on her flashlight, Honey motioned for him to lean down, and she flashed the light over his three eyes. Each responded appropriately, the vertical pupil contracting to a fine line as the light crossed them. After that, she snapped her fingers on either side of his head by odd divets in his skin that resembled frog ears. He winced accordingly, and Honey patted his shoulder, proud.

“Pupillary reflex and auditory responses normal,” Baymax chimed.

“Think you can stand up?” asked Honey. “Take it slow.”

Fred paused, looking down at his new legs. They were thick like the trunks of small trees, and more roughly scaled than the rest of him, much like his arms. Cerulean faded into light blue as it reached his toes - which were now three large, black claws that resembled garden spades - with raised teal circle patterns on his shins. Sturdy enough, he seemed to decide, and did his best to bring them underneath his new weight. He dangerously swayed a few times, but eventually managed to stand upright, his heavy tail helpfully serving as a balance. It was about as long as he was tall, which was noticeably more than his previous six feet even. Hazarding a guess, Honey would say he now stood somewhere around seven or eight feet, close to an armored-up Baymax. His new height certainly added an intimidating factor to his appearance.

“I can’t believe we did it,” said Honey, still unsure if she was simply hallucinating. This was, quite frankly, incredible. She’d developed an honest-to-god formula to trigger full-body transformation in humans without the loss of cognitive functions.

Fred waved his claws at her in a ‘come here’ motion, and as soon as she was within reach, he scooped her up into an embrace. He was weak, otherwise Honey was sure his new monster strength would have been a danger to her. Warmth radiated from his body, which she found oddly calming, but flat belly scales were hardly the most comfortable surface to rest on.

“Ha, you’re welcome!” Honey decided to say, pulling herself up to throw her arms around his thick neck. “I can’t wait to hear what everyone else is going to say.”

\- 

“I still wonder if this was a good idea.”

“He’ll be fine, just keep him supervised as he gets used to it all.”

It’d been a few days, and the once-pathetic display of monster now thundered menacingly around the gardens of his estate, scorching the hedges and slicing the ground in large chunks. Unlike his suit, this body had a set of glands that produced a flammable kerosene gel, which stuck fast to its targets and swiftly burned through whatever unfortunate surface it landed on. Gogo wheeled around Fred in circles, dodging the sticky gel and providing a fast target and opposition, tossing her magnetic discs at him in quick bursts. A swipe of his heavy paw knocked the discs out of the air and sent them clattering to the ground, and he let out a triumphant roar. Gogo clasped her hands over her ears and crouched down, grimacing.

“Hey, nerdlord, be careful with that!” she yelled. “You’re gonna blast somebody’s eardrums out!”

“You’re just jealous,” Fred shot back. He regained the ability to speak in the span of those few days, but he stumbled occasionally when he spoke too quickly or encountered longer words. Like the rest of his new powers, he’d get the hang of it again soon enough. “I bet I could break glass with this!”

A disc clonked him on the side of his head.

“Pay attention, Fredzilla.”

Away she sped, and Fred gave chase like a puppy.

Honey sat at the table on the back porch with Wasabi, Hiro, and Baymax, watching the pair with mild amusement and slight terror.

“I think he’ll be just fine,” said Hiro. “He handles his suit pretty well! There’s a lot left to learn about him, too. Mind if I sit in on the examinations later, Honey?”

“Of course, Hiro! Always good to have another brain around,” she said, beaming. “What do you think, Wasabi?”

“What happens when he changes back?” he asked. “You said all his clothes got shredded, so does that mean he, uh…”

“Yes they did,” said Honey. “And yes, unfortunately that’s exactly what happens. I told him that I’d keep a spare set of his clothes in my purse for when he needs them out on the field.”

Wasabi scooted his chair away from her. Clearly the memory of Fred’s interesting laundry techniques had resurfaced.

“But,” she went on, “I also told him that if I do that for him, he has to be more stringent with cleaning them. My purse, my rules.”

“Sounds fair,” said Hiro.

“Ugh,” was all Wasabi had left to say on the matter.

“What was that name Gogo used?” asked Hiro, not missing a beat. “Fred came up with it when we were first putting the team together.”

“Fredzilla,” supplied Wasabi.

“It fits better now. I like it.”

Honey looked down at her purse. Wrapped carefully around the strap was Fred’s kaiju pendant. She flipped it over in her palm a few times, then let it dangle in place.

“Me, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic I wrote back when BH6 first came out, and I was hooked on the idea of Fred getting actual monster powers instead of just jumping around in a suit. I love a good dose of body horror and silly comic book "science," so I thought I'd take a crack at it for fun. Originally drafted as one part of a duo, but I never finished the other half. Maybe one day. I chose not to change anything in this fic to preserve how it was originally posted on my blog in 2014.


End file.
